I know the scene well, although I haven’t thought of it in years. It’s the opening of an old Twilight Zone episode.

This mental freeze-frame keeps returning to me when my mind is quiet. It has happened more than a few times  enough to make me wonder.

Lately, Baghdad has been my own private Twilight Zone. Soldiers keep marveling at the positive changes, the increased security. It’s not some propaganda sham played on a naive journalist. In many respects, their optimism is completely grounded in reality.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m impressed by the progress. But it just doesn’t seem real to me.

I remain disconnected, unconvinced, like I’m waiting for something terrible to happen  a return to the chaos like I’ve witnessed in previous years.

It’s hard to let go. How can I forget the bloody face of an Iraqi man, pocked with shrapnel from a car bomb or the lifeless, severed legs of a young American soldier?

My anxiety is surely informed by these memories. And history does repeat itself.

The insurgents haven’t gone away entirely. Many think they are simply waiting for their next opening, perhaps when the U.S. draws down forces. Until then, “soft targets”  also known as Iraqis  occupy them and pacify us.

Even the new U.S. military commander in Iraq, Gen. Ray Odierno, warns that security gains during this transitional phase are “fragile and reversible.”

Iraq, much like the coin, cannot hang in the balance forever. Gravity eventually will have its way. The quarter will fall.